A member of my congregation was due to become a mother for the first time, and the women gathered for a Blessing Way. This ancient tradition is used to offer love and blessings to the soon-to-be mother and prepare her for the beautiful and wonderful experiences of childbirth and mothering. Read more »

In a very real way, these encounters helped me to learn to transcend first my self, then my family unit, and then even my country—to understand that there was a lot more of value out there beyond my own immediate world. I then internalized that broader perspective and took to heart a wider reality shown ...Read more »

And so it is that Abraham’s act of practical compassion leads to an encounter with the divine. It was in Abraham’s lived experience—in the choice to transcend a focus on his own needs—that the divine was ushered in. Read more »

When I was a child, I would stand and gaze at the starry firmament and contemplate infinity. As I stood there, the boundary that is time dissolved; I expanded my Spirit to fill the boundary that is space. My being stilled and all fear, anxiety, and anguish disappeared. Forgotten were the chores, the homework, the ...Read more »

Is a question of strength, of unshed tears, of being trampled under, and always, always, remembering you are human. Read more »

“For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.” —Elie Wiesel

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”—Socrates

“God has no religion.” —Mahatma Gandhi

“All peoples are members of the same body, created from one essence. ” —Saadi

“The winds of grace are always blowing but you have to raise the sail.”—Ramakrishna

For many of us, it proves impossible to limit religious thought to a narrow creed. The more we learn, the more difficult it becomes to restrict ourselves to the definition of ultimate reality, or God, that we grew up with, or held when we were young. Read more »

I wrote this prayer sitting in a military chapel in Afghanistan. The prayer was inspired by my encounter with a service-member I met. Read more »

Well-meaning people explain that it doesn’t matter what religion I choose, but I must choose, and only one. Only then, they say, can I go truly deep into a religion. Read more »